It really shouldn't be necessary to provide the English translation for Grandeur et Decadence. The story centers upon the Girbals, a bourgeois family living contentedly on the seacoast of France. Their lives are radically altered when Papa Girbal (Firmin Gemier) is persuaded to expand his cannery business. Suddenly showered with wealth, the family relocates to France, where despite the most persuasive of temptation the family manages to retain its fundamental decency. Even so, the Girbal's son Andre (Lucien Galas) becomes fed up with wicked old Paree and heads back home, there to marry his childhood sweetheart. Comes the Depression, which for the Girbals is depressing indeed: Papa Girbal loses his business, his wife Marie (Marcelle Geniat) dies, and daughter Suzanne (Simone Lencret) is "ruined" by a cad. Moving in with son Andre's family, a suddenly enervated Papa Girbal elects to start life all over again for the sake of his new grandson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi